


Lucky

by ami_ven



Series: Time Off in Pegasus [3]
Category: Stargate Atlantis, Stargate SG-1
Genre: Community: 100_tales, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-12
Updated: 2014-06-12
Packaged: 2018-02-04 08:32:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,098
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1772551
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ami_ven/pseuds/ami_ven
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It was Tuesday, so naturally there had to be some sort of catastrophe.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Lucky

**Author's Note:**

> written for LJ community "100_tales" prompt #047 "present"

It was Tuesday, so naturally there had to be some sort of catastrophe.

Sam was halfway dressed, searching under the bed for one of her boots, when she remembered that she hadn't been sleeping alone the night before.

"Jack," she began, "you can—"

He was halfway dressed, too, but he shook his head. "This is your command, Carter. I'm just coming along in case you need my magic gene."

She rolled her eyes, but couldn't quite stop her smile. "Because otherwise you'd just stay in bed during an emergency?"

"Absolutely," Jack agreed. "I'm on vacation, remember?"

As if Sam could forget. He'd spent the past week reveling in his civilian clothes and refusing to be called 'sir' by anyone, while running around the city making things light up.

She rolled her eyes again and grabbed her headset. "This is Carter."

" _Lorne here, ma'am_ ," came the reply. " _There's been an energy spike from one of the secondary labs. We've lost contact, and now there's weird energy readings all over the city_ "

"Who was in the lab?"

" _Colonel Sheppard and Dr. McKay._ "

"Of course they were," Sam muttered, heading for the door. "Has anyone alerted Dr. Zelenka and Dr. Keller?"

" _Yes, ma'am,_ " said Lorne. " _They're both on their way._ "

"Good. I'll meet you there. Carter out." She turned to find Jack still beside her, grinning. "What?"

"I love seeing you in charge, Carter." He added, more softly, "It's very hot."

She let out a snort of laughter. "If I'd known you liked me ordering you around, I'd have tried it years ago."

"Really?" he asked, eagerly.

"No. Come on."

The lab door was open when they arrived, emitting tendrils of smoke. Sheppard and McKay sat against the opposite wall, simultaneously tag-team blaming each other and refusing attention from one of the nurses. They both looked a bit singed around the edges, but otherwise unhurt.

Sheppard spotted them and tried to get up. "General, colonel—"

"Stay down, Sheppard," Jack interrupted. "And tell Carter what happened."

"Yes, sir. What happened is... Rodney blew up the science lab."

"Oh, I did not!" McKay protested. "You were the one who made it explode."

"You told me it was a weather data recorder!"

"It _was_ a weather data recorder! But it still had an independent power source, which naturally meant you would be able to blow it up!"

"I turned it on!" argued Sheppard. "Like you told me to."

"Oh, so _now_ you start listening to me?"

"Gentlemen!" barked Sam. "What happened to the device?"

"Well, it didn't actually explode," McKay admitted. "It was more like it— discharged?"

He made the last word a question directed at Sheppard, who nodded. "Discharged, yes."

"So, the device is still in the lab?" asked Sam.

"Yes," said McKay.

"In one piece?"

"Last time we saw it," said Sheppard.

"Building up to another charge?"

The two men shared a look. "Probably."

"Ma'am?" said Lorne, appearing around the corner. "Dr. Zelenka just called. There's power fluctuations in the main grid and he's gone to take care of it."

Sam took a deep breath. "Tell him to stay there, major. And you two," she added, to Sheppard and McKay, "let Keller have a look at you."

McKay opened his mouth to argue, but Sheppard poked at a rapidly-purpling bruise above his elbow and he hissed involuntarily. "Yeah, okay."

Sam nodded. "Stay here. Sir, with me."

She ducked into the lab, Jack right behind her. "I'm off-duty, Carter," he sing-songed.

"Sorry, sir," she replied, grinning. "Force of habit. Do you think you can do something about this smoke?"

Jack closed his eyes and the ventilation system came back online, pulling smoke out of the room. "Sweet," he said, when it had cleared. "I could get used to this."

Sam offered him a smile, then focused on the weather device. McKay had clearly been working on it— a panel was open on one side and it was hooked up to a standard-issue SGC laptop.

She had barely touched the keys when an alarm blared. "The charge is building faster," she said. "I can't shut it down!"

Jack reached for his radio. "Lorne, this is O'Neill. Get everyone away from here."

" _Yes, sir._ "

"I don't think that's going to be enough," said Sam, still typing furiously. 

Jack winced. "Boom?"

"Big boom."

"How big?"

She shook her head. "At least this level. Maybe the whole tower."

"Not enough time to evacuate?"

"Not even close." Sam pulled her hands away just as the laptop sparked and died— not that it had been much help, anyway.

The weather machine began to whine loudly, visibly sparking with electricity. Sam struggled to think or something, anything, to stop the discharge. "Jack—"

For a moment, he just looked back at her. Then, his eyes widened. Before Sam could react, he grabbed her around the waist and threw them both to the ground. She thought she heard him yell, "Lightning rod!" just as everything went white.

When Sam's vision cleared again, she found herself flat on the lab floor with Jennifer Keller leaning over her.

"Colonel Carter?" the doctor asked.

Sam sat up quickly. "Jack—"

"Right here, Carter," he said, from his seat beside the lab bench.

"What happened?"

"You blew up the lab," said Sheppard, then quickly added, "Ma'am."

Sam ignored him to arch one eyebrow at Jack. "Lightning rod?"

He grinned. "It worked, didn't it?"

"Fortunately for you, it did," said McKay. "The charge was channeled up through the tower and into the atmosphere. How did you do it, Sam?"

She frowned. "I didn't do anything, the laptop fried and I don't have the Ancient gene. Sir...?"

Jack shrugged. "I just thought, who builds a lightning machine that zaps anyone who uses it? So, unless the Ancients really hated their lab assistants, there had to be some kind of lightning rod."

"That was... surprisingly good thinking," said McKay. "For an uneducated grunt."

"Hey," Jack protested, still grinning. "It zapped _you_."

"Still, lucky you were there, sir," said Sheppard. "Who knows what could have happened otherwise?"

"Your vitals look fine, colonel," said Keller, interrupting. "Yours, too, general. But I'm ordering you both to get some rest. And, colonel, you did lose consciousness, so somebody should wake you every few hours."

"Got it covered, Doc," said Jack. He rose and pulled Sam to her feet. "C'mon, Carter, let's get you back to bed."

Sam allowed Jack to slide an arm around her waist as they headed down the corridor. "You know," she said, "Sheppard was right about that."

"About what?"

She grinned. "I'm always lucky to have you around."

THE END


End file.
